​Russia will not restructure Ukraine’s $3bn debt – finance minister

Russia has rejected Ukraine's request to restructure its $3 billion debt said Finance Minister Anton Siluanov adding that the ministry “is waiting for this money.”

“We expect all the commitments of Ukraine to be fulfilled
this year in December. Any budget income in foreign currency is
important to us," Siluanov said on the sidelines of the G20
summit in Istanbul.

“Russia is not in a situation when one can easily write off
foreign currency obligations,” he said. "The return of
resources that were once invested in foreign currency bonds of
another country is very important.”

Siluanov said Russia has the right to demand early repayment of
the Ukrainian debt, but Moscow won’t accept any delays or
installment of payments.

"Back in Davos Ukraine said it would enter into negotiations
[on debt restructuring – Ed.] with all its creditors,” he
said. “But the Ukrainians themselves confirmed that the money
[for debt repayment – Ed.] was budgeted,” Siluanov
concluded. “The word of the Ministry of Finance means a lot.
We are waiting for the money."

At the end of 2013 Russia decided to invest up to $15 billion in
Ukrainian Eurobonds and bought its first tranche of $3 billion
with a two-year maturity.

Russia refused to allocate a further $12 billion because of what
it saw as the illegitimate shift of power in Ukraine.

Finance Minister Siluanov has said Ukraine has already violated
the terms of the $3 billion loan by allowing its national debt to
exceed 60 percent of GDP, which once again gives Moscow a reason
to demand early repayment.

On January 27 the head of the Kremlin administration Sergey
Ivanov said the Russian authorities hadn’t yet decided to ask for
the repayment of the $3 billion loan, while Kiev’s total debt to
Russia reached $25 billion.

At the same time the Ukrainian Ministry of Finance said that it
hadn’t addressed Russia on the question of debt restructuring,
but said it will negotiate with all its creditors, RIA Novosti
reports.

The data provided by Ukrainian Ministry of Finance shows the
direct and guaranteed debt of Ukraine to Russia and Russian banks
amounted to $4.728 billion dollars, or 12.2 percent of Ukraine’s
total external debt at the beginning of 2015.